The pen is mightier than the sword – but does the iPad conquer all?
Truth is I might have said yes. But wait…
In fact I have been talking a lot about the latest toddler move – the horizontal hand swipe. I’m sure many of you have seen it – my 2-year-old grandson is a black belt at it. They know how to turn on an iPad, activate apps and use them. They can find movies and little videos their parents (and grandparents, as the case may be) have saved for them and in general entertain themselves for hours at a time.
Good, no?
The fully digital generation – born swiping from the womb.
What an opportunity!!!! Think of the learning potential!!! Think of the educational opportunities!!! Think what they might accomplish….
Truth is I really believed it. Always did – from the earliest days of popular computing.
But once again, it is the Technical elite; the digital lords – those who created the world we live in – who remind us not to lose touch with our own humanity and to boil it down to education – not to forget the power of the pen.
There has been a spate of reporting the past few months on the value of the fully computerized schoolroom. Do students learn more? The same? Less? than their counterparts in – shudder the thought – traditional schools (keep media and companies in mind too).
Guess which it is?
Depending on the source it’s either inconclusive or less – but not more – HMMM….
Now here is the killer and why we had better pay attention.
The Silicon Valley Digerati are sending their children to a school that has no computers – not one in the school and they don’t want their students using them at home either. In fact the school’s philosophy is that computers inhibit “creative thinking, movement, human interaction and attention spans.”
Called The Waldorf School – whose philosophy of teaching is about a century old – the branch in the Valley is just one of around 160 in the U.S. and any number of emulators.
“I fundamentally reject the notion you need technology aides in grammar school,” said Alan Eagle, a senior executive at Google whose children attend the school. Alan has written speeches for Eric Schmidt.
The school teaches the fundamentals and it teaches them creatively using tactile methods and creating fun, irresistible, engaging programs around everything from fractions – taught by cutting and eating fruit – to language – taught by coordinating body and mind.
But it wasn’t just the school that caught my attention – it was the comments by the Digital parents – representing the best companies in Silicon Valley.
Check this one out – “Engagement is about human contact, the contact with the teacher, the contact with their peers,” this quote from a Microsoft/Intel veteran, Pierre Laurent, who works at a high-tech start-up.
Here is a killer – when asked if his children might be behind if they don’t learn digital skills from the cradle. Eagle commented, “It’s supereasy. It’s like learning to use toothpaste. At Google and all those places we make technology as brain-dead easy to use as possible. There’s no reason why kids can’t figure it out when they get older.”
Interestingly enough the kids from Waldorf complain that when they socialize with other kids or are around adults who are wrapped up in their devices, they get frustrated as the device mob is so self-absorbed and oblivious.
Bottom line – this not a screed against digital – au contraire – I’m paying homage to the people I consider to be in the digital leadership of the world – and I’m suggesting we take a lesson – borrow a page – open our eyes.
It has long been my contention that humanity will always triumph – see the terminator….
I have written before about our need for people insight; for off-line observations and up-close and intimate connectivity.
The movie here is that the rest of us become device dependent – while the children of those who made us dependent learn to function in the real world; learn to focus on creative problem solving; learn to appreciate and understand the world and what makes it work – then one day – someone pulls the plug…guess who rules? Maybe I should sell the script.
Seriously, I really do believe this is the most important article I have read in a while and its implications are mind blowing.
Wake-up call!!!!
Listen to the following – from the very beginning of the age we are in:
“All of the books in the world contain no more information than is broadcast as video in a single large American city in a single year. Not all bits have equal value.” Carl Sagan
Not all bits have equal value. Clearly not all education does either. Nor anything, for that matter, that could benefit from human face-to-face interaction.
Let me end with a quote from a 10-year-old whose father works at Google:
“If you learn to write on paper, you can still write if water spills on the computer or the power goes out.”
I don’t know about you – but I’m not throwing out my dog-eared copy of Cyrano just yet.
What do you think?
Great stuff, I read that piece in the Seattle Times yesterday who carried it as well….I guess it makes more sense if your kids have a home outfitted with every advanced digital plaything already – anything the school might provide might seem lacking relative to what Mom or Dad bring home! Plus, the parents probably frown on letting their kids play with mud pies at home…I agree there is eternal value in “keeping it real”, which sometimes our digital lives most certainly are not!
This blew me away… but where do you stop? Aren’t pencils technology?
pencils are indeed technology — I think their point is human interaction — forcing multiple centers of our minds to engage –
I did read the piece in the NY Times yesterday about the Waldorf school and what struck me with that the “Google” children go there! But then again, I went to a school with no computers and we had to learn to read, write, think and problem solve with our own little brains. I remember what a huge deal it was when the pocket calculator came out! OK, I am showing my age…
…but the piece that relates to this that was on 60 Minutes last night was about how the iPads are helping kids with autism communicate. Not every one of them, but enough that is making life so much easier for the autistic person and their families to communicate, some of them for the first time.
Whatever works, works!
I fear the last generation to treasure books as physical artefacts is now aged 30.
That said, my eldest son, who has never read for pleasure and is now aged 16, has taken to kindle and is occupied for hours. First up I think the format suits him. A device rather than a clump of wood shavings. Second, he has had some learning challenges and now; ‘ when I don’t understand a word I press it, and I get a definition.’
I call that an insight.
Very interesting indeed.
As with most things I believe it is just an issue of the right balance. My 2 year old enjoys books, painting, learning, playing with trains and the list goes on forever. Just like I like playing with trains, drawing, reading, learning etc. When given a choice we also both choose differently depending on our mood. Sometimes playing with the iPhone is what we want, other times it is building stuff. My point is that yes iPads and computers are awesome, but so is non electronic stuff. And if a 30 year old and a 3 year old can both agree here then I am sure we’ll all be able to keep the right balance in the future as well.
And a very interesting point that I got at a Direct Marketing event last week: physical mail is still superior to email/digital mail in some ways because holding something in your hands is much better when it comes to activating the senses. The brain has not evolved fast enough for our emotions to fully get ignited when we see something on a screen – we need to feel it physically as well to really provide an emotional response to the message (Amanda Phillips was the speaker – I may have to rephrase once I see the presentation..). Anyway, I think that for this reason we will still crave non-electronic ways of learning because they trigger some emotions needed to really enjoy learning.
I just reread my comment and just to make clear – I only have one son. He turns 3 in less than a week and obviously this is about the only thing that goes on in my mind. So this is why I refer to both a 2 year old and a 3 year old (in case people were losing sleep over it..).
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